Scott, I used 30 minute epoxy for the adhesive and it seemed to work well, I think I might try some tight bond on the next one to see if the glue line goes away even more. There is a line but it's fairly fine, I was surprised by how easy it turned down and how smooth it finished. I final sanded with 600 grit and used Tru-Oil for finish and it came out with a very smooth finish. I hope all is wel
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Mike, I found a couple of pieces of Carbonized Bamboo flooring to try, it's a solid flooring product found at the local flooring showrooms and retailers. The boards are various lenths about 3-4 inches wide about 3/4" thick. In my area it comes in a 20sq foot box for about $120.00, but that would make a lot of handles. I used a thickness plainer to get rid of the reliefs cut in the bottom of
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I had some bamboo flooring laying around and thought that it would be a natural for handles and reel seats. It's water proof and should hold up to the elements. I haven't seen anyone else that has used bamboo for grips so I'm a little leery of mounting it up to a blank only to have it fail. Has any one used it and can you tell me how well it will hold up? Enclosed is a picture of the grip itself,
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I'm with Scott, I rarely use winding checks any time. I ream them as close as I can and wrap with out a check. I like the look better without.
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I'm linking the pictures of the steps
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I'd agree with Andrew on the 69MLXF from St Croix. The action is great for dead sticking and drop shots. I have the Batson 822.5 as well it's a good rod but prefer the St. Croix action over the Batson. Mark
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Steve - I have used the RX7 in a spinning rod the 822.5 and it has an extra fast action. It's very good as a drop shot rod. I don't know what you are using (spinning, baitcasting) but Batson has a very nice line of blanks in the RX7. If you want to step up in price you may want to look at St. Croix the Avid series. They have a very great action and the price isn't to bad. It's hard to find a bad
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Metal is tough to do, I haven't worked with that before. To put wood and cork together I start by turning my wood about .010" oversize from the finished dimensions then epoxy the cork rings on to the wood. Then I turn down the cork to the rough size of the wood insert. I use a skew to finish the turning to within a few thousandths of the finished size then sand to the finished dimension. The
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On top of oversize guides you may want to try an old Wisconsin winter fishing trick, PAM cooking spray. If you spray down your guides before you head out it will help keep the ice from building up in the first place as it won't stick to the guides. It doesn't last for ever but it helps.
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I work in the parts department for a Ford dealership. W have a friction modifier part number XL3 that comes 10 in a box. The part comes in a 8oz bottle with a nozzle to add the fluid into the rr axle. The nozzle will fit on top of my epoxy bottles and I cut the nozzle opening until it is a snug fit on my syringe. After that you can tip the bottle over fill your syringe, he nozzle also comes with
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I'll be there and hope to put a face to the names. Mark
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Tom has always spoken highly of the Renzetti lathes so that may be something to look at. I have a Delta Midi lathe that works well for me. The thing I'm glade I did was spend a little extra on was the tools for the lathe. I think I spent more for the skews and roughing gouge than I spent for the lathe. You can get by with a skew, a parting tool and a gouge. I can't remember the size of the gouge
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Rich, David and Mike I sent out mail for you, if you don't get it let me know. Mark
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Rich - My photos of the jig are at home, I'll try to e/mail you tonight. BTW I see your from Wisconsin, where about's? I live about 40 miles west of Madison myself so I'm always happy to help a fellow Wisconsinite, we need all the help we can get. Mark
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I've made a jig out of scrap lumber and use a 10" power miter box with a very fine blade to make mine. There are other people that use a hand miter box and a back saw to make the cuts but I find they don't hold an consistent angle. I usually glue 2 boards the same thickness together and cut them at a 10 degree angle (18 pieces) but you can cut them any angle as long as the total is 360 degr
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I have been lucky to find what I need at a local Woodcraft store. It's nice to look at the wood before you buy it. I know that you can find the wood on line but every blank has a caracter all it's own. I just like to look at the wood and get a feel of the blank, you may want to look in the yellow pages and see if there is someone close to you so you can see the blank in person. Mark
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I have used the Brother and it works well on blanks that are .440" and over. However the smaller light weight blanks the outter sealing strip will lift off when the epoxy is applied. I have tried CP but that will not keep the label from lifting but was going to try a clear coat paint or sealer that would dry a little harder to see if that would help. Other wise on the larger blanks they seem
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Thanks Paul I will.
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I see more and more of the vendors on the left hand side have some of the discontinued Shikari blanks. I'm looking for some SHX blanks around 7' long for worm rods and spinner baits probably the PSB 702, PSB 703 or the PSB 704's. Do any of the sponsors have any of these in stock and not listed on their web sites? I have checked Andy's list from Lamar, and Bingham Enterprises but they don't have t
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I usually make it once a year as it's close to where we vacation. It is like going to a candy store, and the people that work there are very accommodating. Every one should stop in at least once in their lifetime. Mark
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I myself find it's hard to match a wood with thread so I usually use contrasting colors. Maybe you could use a Maple (white) or Ebony (black) this makes it more of an accent instead of blending. Mark
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I see there are many views on the usefulness of the uplocking vs downlocking. I have always used uplocking in my own rods but posed the question to Anthony as I like to learn new things, and this set up is popular in his area. Most production rods I see are uplocking, however we all know that things change and I like to try and keep up with new trends and maybe find a new twist that I can use to
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I personally like the St Croix 3C69MLXF for river smallies. I have a spinning reel set up with this blank and can't say enough good about it. I use is for drop shots and dead stick and love it. The length is long enough that you get a good hookset and the extra fast tip gives you great sensitivity. It doesn't work well as a crane however the ML action is great to play them as long as you can keep
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I think it may make a difference how you fish on the usefulness of the spiral wrap. I use a spinner bait allot for fishing my tip is almost always down and cranking the bait back towards me. I would think that in this case it would make more sense to have the guides on top as 90% of the time is spent casting and retrieving and if I'm lucky I'll catch a fish on 10% of the casts. If the tip is down
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Stan - Thanks for the heads up. I just ordered one a few minutes ago. Mark B.
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Anthony - I have seen the weights that you show in the pictures and they look interesting. Any Idea where in the US I can get them? Mark
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I was at the St. Croix plant in Park Falls this summer and they have a window in the show room so you can look into the finishing room and factory. The people I saw finishing rods had nothing special to work with I however think if I finished 100-200 rods a day I'd get to the point my finishes would turn out perfect every time as well. Mark
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Rich - It was a panfish popper but it was the style before the snap in inserts. The older ones I bought at Cabelas about three years ago and the tip was built into the end of the rod not the snap in types. I would have to agree with you the snap in ones look like trouble. I was hoping to find that type but if worse comes to worse I may have to try and make them out of the Bic springs. Thanks Mark
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I know this has probably been covered before but I have a Frabil Ice fishing rod that has a larger barrel about 1/4" long that makes the tip and it has a spring that comes out of the end. Does any one have a source for a tip w/spring similar to this? If not can any one point me in a direction of your favorite spring bobber for ice fishing? Thanks Mark
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I just got done with a 5'9" St Croix Elite. It's on the discontined green blank # ES59ULF it's a great blank and the tip loads great for light jigs and will cast a mile. The best part was I found the blank at the St Croix store in Park Falls on a close out for little or nothing. Mark
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